Looking at possibilities of teams connecting in Sydney for another immediate Australian destination. I say we can quite rule out Melbourne, Hobart and Darwin for Leg One. Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth are still fair game.

The flights to Australia on the evening of the 20th are:VA 2 to Sydney, 2010-0605VE 2 to Sydney, 2020-0604UA 839 to Sydney, 2215-0730QF 12 to Sydney, 2225-0800 (diverted)DL 12 to Sydney, 2245-0840QF 108 to Sydney, 2350-0925QF 16 to Brisbane, 2350-0745

Melbourne: Extremely unlikelyLos Angeles and Melbourne have no direct connections on the evening of 20 Nov, but there are three separate direct flights arriving in the span of 90min the very next day. It would be unlikely for the start to be scheduled on the 20th and not the 21st if Melbourne were the first destination.

Hobart: Extremely unlikelyThe first Sydney-Hobart flight that teams can hope to catch arrives in Tasmania at 11.10am. The next flight arrives at 4.05pm, a full five hours after the first. Not the material for a good first-leg race.

Darwin: Extremely unlikelyAll LAX-SYD flights up to DL 12 can hope to connect to the 9.50am Darwin flight, arriving in the Northern Territories at 12.50pm. The next available flight arrives at 5.05pm. Connecting via Brisbane will result in a 3.45pm arrival. I'd say these are spaced too far apart for a good race.

Brisbane: PossibleNeither United nor Delta have corresponding partners in domestic Australian routes. The direct flight from LAX arrives at 7.45am. A Virgin connection via Sydney arrives at 8.25am, while the two Qantas connections arrive at 9.25am and 11.25am.

Adelaide: PossibleNeither United nor Delta have corresponding partners in domestic Australian routes. A Virgin connection arrives in Adelaide at 10.50am, while Qantas connections arrive in Adelaide at 11.20am and 12.40pm. Connections via Brisbane arrive much later.

Perth: PossibleNeither United nor Delta have corresponding partners in domestic Australian routes. A Virgin connection arrives in Perth at 1.35pm, while Qantas connections arrive in Perth at 12.00pm and 2.00pm. A connection via Brisbane arrives at 1.20pm.

« Last Edit: November 21, 2010, 10:43:14 AM by Neobie »

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Found out that Neobie in Chinese means "f*king awesome"! No, really. Look it up!

Just an FYI, Qantas 12 is now being re-directed, possible back to HNL (Honolulu, Hawaii). On the Qantas Website, it says the flight has been canceled and on Flightstats, the flight is being re-directed, location is not noted.

I just found out that the flight left HNL at 3:39 am sydney,australia time which was about an hour and 10 minutes ago. The Flight is scheduled to land in sydney at 9:41 local time which is at about 5:41 Eastern Standard Time.

Just an FYI, Qantas 12 is now being re-directed, possible back to HNL (Honolulu, Hawaii). On the Qantas Website, it says the flight has been canceled and on Flightstats, the flight is being re-directed, location is not noted.

No. Hopefully everyone will start watching FB and twitters like a hawk.

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"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

There is also the possibility over at Sucks, of DanDownUnder helping with the team-spotting...If Peach, or someone at Sucks as him and give him some information...

Dan knows how to reach me.

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"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

I know we are all excited, but please please let's try to work together here? There is a TAR 18 speculation thread for discussion and to toss ideas around.

This thread is intended for discussion of confirmed locations. So for example, actual spoilers related to Sydney would go here, or info/maps about any Sydney locations we have reason to believe we will see.

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"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

That does make Australia a better choice for first leg... but... I hope it's rural Australia, English-speaking major city for experienced racers still lacks a punch for a season premiere (watch them come up with hellish tasks to prove me wrong!) I guess this falls more under Destination Speculation, but here's a little recap of where these teams have raced before. I think they might skip China this time but do India and South America seems like it might be in order, although probably not Argentina/Chile.

"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

It's such a pleasure! This is my first time spoiling myself rotten for TAR! Sorry I didn't know if we were allowed to actually mention contestants in THIS tread, I thought some people spoil themselves selectively. In a normal season, I'd only want to know the destinations for instance, nothing about the teams, that's why I posted in the wrong thread.

It is a spoiler board, so we can't discriminate that much, or we would go insane.

Thanks again!

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"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

If the route of TAR 11 is any guide vis-a-vis the places those participating Racers had been to prior to that season, there may be return visits for some of the teams. (Oswald-Danny had been to Hong Kong for TAR 2 and again for TAR 11.) I do not think we can assume that none of those venues visited by returning teams won't be included this time.

If the route of TAR 11 is any guide vis-a-vis the places those participating Racers had been to prior to that season, there may be return visits for some of the teams. (Oswald-Danny had been to Hong Kong for TAR 2 and again for TAR 11.) I do not think we can assume that none of those venues visited by returning teams won't be included this time.

No, obviously not. With so many variables like weather, transport options, political stability, etc. BUT... looking at that list, I think some places ARE more likely than others to not be revisited, such as The Netherlands, unless they really, really need Schipol as a departure airport for a very specific connection to... I don't know... Curacao? Same goes for Russia. And Sweden. Everything else is game, although I'm thinking they might be going to India mostly because TAR17 isn't, but also because not that many returning teams have been there already.